Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Clearly it is a matter of choice. A previous Government stated it would put up €400 million for this development which was to be a dual carriageway to Derry. Everybody supports good transport and the lines of trade that follow from that but in consideration of the capital programme we published here of almost €17 billion over the period of the programme, we had to make choices to defer metro north, the joining up of rail links, the Navan line, the western rail corridor and the vast majority of major road infrastructure in the Republic. We were not in a position to provide them because the money is simply not available and, against that background, we recognise the importance of the connection across to the north west and beyond Derry into Donegal, which would free up lines to Dublin. The consideration was also one for the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly because there is a substantial amount of money involved.

We made a formal Cabinet decision that €25 million would be provided in 2015 and in 2016. The discussions I had with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister in Stormont Castle concerned the possibility of rejigging the Executive's own financial projections for the years ahead, in other words, how could the moneys to be provided through the Assembly and the Executive be adjusted to cater for an injection of €50 million from the Government here between 2015 and 2016?

This road development is to be in three phases - to Sion Mills, Aughnacloy and further south. Having stated this was a clear Cabinet decision for a €50 million injection, which we could have abandoned and put into projects here, and because of its importance and its link, the question of whether it be a road facility project that would be revised downwards, that is, from motorway to whatever, and the adjustment of the fiscal programme by the Executive and Assembly in Northern Ireland, we agreed that the officials from the two Departments would meet the following week to discuss a rejigging of that proposal.

As I said in my reply, I discussed this with First Minister Robinson and Deputy First Minister McGuinness in Dublin Castle at the inauguration of President Higgins and also in Stormont Castle and I was absolutely clear that is the decision we have made, cutting cloth according to measure as circumstances economically are now very different from what they were when a previous Taoiseach stated we would put in €400 million.

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